Apollo Homeric Greek: is one of the most important and complex of the Olympian deitiesin ancient Greek and Roman religion, Greco–Roman Neopaganism, and Greek and Roman mythology. The ideal of the kouros(a beardless, athletic youth), Apollo has been variously recognized as a god of light and the sun, truth and prophecy, healing, plague, music, poetry, and more. Apollo is the son of Zeus and Leto, and has a twin sister, the chaste huntress Artemis. Apollo is known in Greek-influenced Etruscan mythology as Apulu. As the patron of Delphi (Pythian Apollo), Apollo was an oracular god—the prophetic deity of the Delphic Oracle. Medicine and healing are associated with Apollo, whether through the god himself or mediated through his son Asclepius, yet Apollo was also seen as a god who could bring ill-health and deadly plague. Amongst the god's custodial charges, Apollo became associated with dominion over colonists, and as the patron defender of herds and flocks. As the leader of the Muses(Apollon Musegetes) and director of their choir, Apollo functioned as the patron god of music and poetry. Hermes created the lyre for him,and the instrument became a common attribute of Apollo. Hymns sung to Apollo were called paeans.

In Greek mythology, Demeter is the goddess of the harvest, who presided over grains, the fertility of the earth,and the seasons (personified by the Hours). Her common surnames are Sito as the giver of food or corn/grainand Thesmophoros as a mark of the civilized existence of agricultural society.Though Demeter is often described simply as the goddess of the harvest, she presided also over the sanctity of marriage, the sacred law, and the cycle of life and death. She and her daughter Persephone were the centralfigures of the Eleusinian Mysteries that predated the Olympian pantheon. In the Linear B Mycenean Greek tabletsof circa 1400-1200 BC found at Pylos, the "two mistresses and the king" are identified with Demeter, Persephoneand Poseidon. Her Roman equivalent is Ceres.

Dionysus is the ancient Greek god of wine, the god who inspires ritual madness and ecstasy, and a majorfigure of Greek mythology. He is included as one of the twelve Olympians in some lists. Dionysus is typicalof the god of the epiphany, "the god that comes". He was also known as Bacchus, the name adopted by the Romans and the frenzy he induces, bakkheia. In addition to winemaking, he is the patron deity of agriculture and the theater. He was also known as the Liberator (Eleutherios), freeing one from one's normal self, by madness, ecstasy or wine. The divine mission of Dionysus was to mingle the music of theaulos and to bring an end to care and worry.[4] Scholars have discussed Dionysus' relationship to the "cultof the souls" and his ability to preside over communication between the living and the dead.

Zeus was the child of Cronus and Rhea, and the youngest of his siblings. In most traditions he was marriedto Hera, although, at the oracle of Dodona, his consort was Dione: according to the Iliad, he is the father of Aphrodite by Dione. He is known for his erotic escapades. These resulted in many godly and heroic offspring,including Athena, Apollo and Artemis, Hermes, Persephone (by Demeter), Dionysus, Perseus, Heracles, Helen, Minos, and the Muses (by Mnemosyne); by Hera, he is usually said to have fathered Ares, Hebe and Hephaestus.

Hermes is the great messenger of the gods in Greek mythology and additionally as a guide to the Underworld. An Olympian god, he is also the patron of boundaries and of the travelers who travelacross them, of shepherds and cowherds, of the cunning of thieves and liars, of orators and wit, of literature and poets, of athletics and sports, of weights and measures, of invention, andof commerce in general. Hermes was identified with the Roman god Mercury, who, though inherited from the Etruscans, developed many similar characteristics, such as being the patronof commerce.